Rose recovers from a motorcycle accident and awakens changed due to experimental treatment. Rabid is an early entry to the body horror genre that has elements of other horror genres. Vampire elements are in Rose, her thirst for blood, and her cycle of rejecting and accepting her needs. Zombie elements are in her victims becoming infected with a disease like rabies that turns them into weeping, foaming, mindless attackers. Rose’s transformation is on a small scale with only a stinger under her arm. Her attacks take on a sexual nature with her seductive tactics, the actual embrace of her attack, and her reaction to feeding. Both aspects can be seen on a larger scale in Cronenberg’s later work. Rabid represents the early stage of body horror, basic and underdeveloped with innovative ideas.
